With just one day left before the opening match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017, the Video Assistant Referee system was introduced to journalists at the World Cup Stadium in Jeonju by Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Head of Refereeing and Head of Football Technology Innovation, Johannes Holzmuller.

This will be the first time the Video Assistant Referee system (VAR) has been run at a FIFA youth tournament. It will be used to assist referees in decisions regarding four kinds of situations: goals, penalties, red card incidents and player identity.

“The referee can change his decisions after receiving the information from the video operations room,” Holzmuller explained. “He can also check the replay in person to make a decision, but the final decision can only be made by the referee.”

Throughout the event, video assistant referees will have access to the broadcast feeds inside the video operations room, enabling them to provide the referee on the pitch with information that can help inform his reading of the game.

“Qualified match officials, who are equally as experienced as the referee, will work inside the video operations room, where two VARs will support the referee in the process of reviewing the video clips,” said Busacca.

"In terms of fair play, VAR can make a huge difference through prevention. People will know there's a camera there, so they have to stop.

“I think one of the most important impacts of VAR will be not seeing any more clear mistakes,” the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup™ referee continued. “Situations that are really clear, such as simulation, or a team winning with a clear error, which we don’t want to see. So, I think this will be one of its biggest implementations and have an impact on this competition."

Learn more about VAR, and other developments in football tech, on our new dedicated mini-site: football-technology.fifa.com.